Its not a process of taking a hammer and chisel to the metal. You just heat it to about 30*C and it melts. Very strange indeed. In 99.99% pure form it is very silvery.
I think as an investment Gallium is excellent. Everyone knows about the rapid rise in Gold and Silver, but Palladium shot up in price too but nobody really noticed it. I remember in 2009 its price rise was way ahead of Gold and Silver. Maybe it was in 2010 as well, I haven't checked.
The palladium price in 2000 shot up ten fold because Russia blocked its export for political reasons. Ford used Palladium in catalytic converters so had to buy it whatever the cost.
I believe Palladium is 15 times more rare than gold, so these rare earth's are very sensitive to supply shortages.
The world only produces about 30 tonnes of Gallium per year. Bear in mind China alone produces 300 tonnes of Gold per year and you realise just how rare Gallium is.
Gallium is used in integrated circuits and LED's. You have probably noticed LEDs seem to be on everything within the last 20 years. There are new super bright low power LED's taking over the high energy halogen spot lights now. How long before governments demand LEDs instead of halogen lights you may ask?
From my reading I understand Gallium to be quite safe to handle. Not quite the same with another metal I'm interested in selling, INDIUM. The youtube video below should explain the uses of this rare earth.
I can get hold of Indium but I'm concerned about selling it. It seems just touching it is toxic. It can be stored in an appropriate container with a Hazmat warning on it, but it kind of takes the fun out of owning the metal.
On the positive side of owning Indium, 20 years ago nobody knew we'd all have TFT monitors and screens using Indium. The supply must be coming under strain.
And finally:
Did anyone read The Telegraph a few weeks ago where a company called Zest that was losing money, changed it's name to Rare Earth Metals on the AIM and immediately went up in value 300%
They hadn't even got any supply chain or any metal in stock.
These metals are really difficult to get hold of. You need to to import them from China, build relationships and if they don't like you, they'll ban the sale to you, just like they've done to the Japanese.
Food for thought.
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